


a moment of stars

by kurgaya



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drabble, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 11:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9489797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: KM prompt:Iris + Gladio - sibling fluff. No shipping, just cute sibling interactions. I would love to see overprotective big brother Gladio.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Doesn't realllllly fit with the prompt, but oh well!

 

Eight-year-old Gladio is a firm believer of love at first sight. A child of books and libraries, ink-splattered hands and papercut fingers, cosy corners and armchairs with squishy, flower-printed mouths that could swallow him whole, Gladio knows _a thing or two_ about love. On the other hand, he is the son of a Lord and Lady, the heir to the Amicitia legacy, and sworn to the Royal Prince of Lucis, and as such, he doesn’t have many friends. Some of his tutors are cool, and some of them are scary, and he loves his parents very much despite how busy they are - despite how _weird_ they’ve been these past months as his mother blows up like a balloon.

“Do you remember what we told you about having a little brother or sister?” his mother says the first time he asks, fingertips trailing through Gladio’s choppy hair. He’s a little too old to sit on her lap anymore, but he squidges up beside her on the sofa and nods, unsure what that has to do with her getting so _big_.

“Well,” she says, laughing softly at the scrunch of his nose. “Your little brother or sister’s in here. They’re not ready to be born yet, and it takes a _long_ while for them to be big enough. So I have to keep them safe.”

“Like a Shield?” Gladio asks, thinking of his father’s duty to the Crown.

His mother laughs. It’s the laugh she uses when she wants to tell his father something funny later. “Not quite, although I’m sure your father would disagree. King Regis was quite a troublemaker in his youth, I hear.”

“His youth?”

“When he was younger,” his mother clarifies, _bopping_ Gladio on the nose. “Like you.”

Gladio still doesn’t understand. “But King Regis is old,” he argues, thinking of the King’s silver-tipped hair. That means he’s old, doesn’t it? Plus, he’s the _King_. Kings have to be old, don’t they?

“He wasn’t always old,” his mother corrects, and Gladio wonders if that means that the King’s hair wasn’t always grey either. “Even you were a baby once.”

“I don’t remember,” he says, certainly hoping that she’s wrong. Babies are small and ugly and they cry a lot - and he’s not _any_ of those things. He’s tall and strong and he showers every day and brushes his teeth _twice_ a day. Still, his mother’s never wrong about _anything_ \- she even lets them have fruit smoothies and waffles for breakfast on Fridays.

“And a good thing too! Who wants to remember nappies?” his mother replies, laughing again. She’s been doing that a lot more lately; rubbing her tummy and eating odd things too. Gladio’s father won’t let him eat anything that she does now, but he’s not sure he wants to anyway.

He’s not really sure what’s going on, but it must be a good thing. A little brother or sister _does_ sound cool; Gladio’s parents won’t let him get a puppy, but he wonders if that’s because they wanted to surprise him with a sibling instead. Maybe he can ask for a puppy again once they’re born; he doesn’t think getting a puppy takes nearly as long as a brother or sister, so his parents will probably think it’s a good idea. Gladio hopes so, vowing to remember to ask about it once his mother has finished protecting the baby.

He forgets all about the puppy once Iris is born. His father wakes him in the middle of the night some months later to explain that he’s going to stay with Jared, the Amicitia family butler for a little while, and Gladio remembers nodding and rolling back asleep again without asking any questions. His parents are gone for a few days but Gladio doesn’t mind - his mother is part of the Crownsguard and sometimes has to leave for days or weeks, but she always comes back. His father is in the Council and Shield to the King, and that means he leaves for work early and comes back late, so there are days when Gladio doesn’t see him either. Jared is older than his parents (he’s got grey hair just like the King) but he works in the house so Gladio sees him a lot. He explains to Gladio that his parents’ hurried disappearance is because his brother or sister is being born, to which Gladio furrows his eyebrows at his dinner, wondering if that’s really true.

His parents leave and come back all of the time, but they’ve never had a baby with them before.

They do this time - if the teeny blanket-swaddled blob of pink can be called a _baby_. His mother is in a wheelchair and she has her own blanket draped over her knees, but she smiles as she beckons Gladio over, her face blotched red and white like the baby cocooned in her arms. Gladio’s father looks tired too, dishevelled and panda-eyed but standing proud behind his wife’s chair. Gladio clings onto his leg for a few seconds, a happy, wary _welcome back, why’s mum hurt, what’s that blob_ kind of hug, and both of his parents laugh dog-tiredly.

“Gladio, this is your little sister, Iris,” his mother introduces, motioning for him to approach. “Would you like to hold her? She’s not very heavy, but you have to be careful.”

“She still needs protecting?” Gladio asks, edging closer. He’s not sure how the shapeless roll of blankets in his mother’s arms can be a _little sister_ , but he holds his hands out as his father instructs and accepts the wrinkly, cotton-wrapped mass into his arms.

It has a nose, and a _mouth_ , and two tiny pink hands that clench and bend and -

“It moved!” Gladio cries, staring in flabbergast as the baby peeks open a pair of white eyes and wriggles within the blankets. “It’s moving - it’s alive! It’s - it’s -!”

“Iris,” his father amends, crouched beside him. “And _she’s_ your sister.”

“Iris,” Gladio agrees, watching the baby peer around at the world. She’s small and wrinkly and he loves her already, and he wonders what she’s thinking as she blinks up at him. “Can she talk? Does she know who I am? Iris, I’m Gladio - Gladiolus. I’m eight. I’m your big brother. Are you always gonna be this small?”

The baby - Iris - only yawns before snuggling back down to sleep again. His parents - _their parents_ \- translate that as a _she’ll be bigger before you know it Gladio_ , but he can’t imagine her ever getting bigger than this. It’ll be weird if she’s ever as tall as him, and then he won’t be the _big_ brother anymore, will he?

She’ll have to stay small, he decides. That way, he can protect her _forever_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
